TONY DODERO -- From the Newsroom

As the clock ticks on the folks who have lived in the bungalows at

Crystal Cove for all these years, meetings are heating up again on what

the future should hold after the people move out in July.

Everyone from state park officials to Irvine Co. heiress Joan Irvine

Smith, whose grandfather owned the land since the 1800s, is putting in

their two cents on what should happen when the land is returned to the

state.

So, heck, why shouldn’t I do that as well?

I got an idea from one of the last vacations I took. What if the state

was able to rent out the cottages as a rustic getaway? How much do you

think it could get?

For an idea, I looked up the rates for the Franciscan Lodge resort in

North Lake Tahoe.

My wife and I checked out these rustic little cabins on a trip there

last summer, and you can too by checking out the web site o7

www.Franciscanlodge.comf7 .

Sure, these cabins lack many basic amenities, but so, too, do the

Crystal Cove bungalows.

And like the cove bungalows, the Franciscan Lodge cabins sit directly

on the beach. For a one bedroom on the lake, it can cost $199 a night.

Those not facing the lake go for less -- $85 a night.

Everyone knows one of the things that killed the original proposed

development was the idea that the cove cottages would be rented out at

$300-$500 a night, making a stay there near impossible, or at least

difficult, for many of us common folk.

So we, that’s you and me -- all the taxpayers who are the REAL owners

of Crystal Cove -- could rent the place out for a reasonable $100 a

night.

At those rock bottom prices, I’m going to assume we will have no

vacancy. So multiply that $100 by 46 cottages and that’s $4,600 a day.

Multiply 30 days in a month and that’s $138,000 a month or $1.66 million

a year.

In the next 20 years that would add up to $33.1 million in revenue,

about $1 million more than the state paid for the entire parcel and about

$24 million more than the approximately $9.2 million the cove dwellers

have paid over the last 20 years with their $1,000 a month average rents.

Just an idea.

***

I spent some time last Friday afternoon at a nice celebration for the

volunteers who have put in 26,151 hours of their own free time at the

Costa Mesa Senior Center.

The volunteers were treated to food and refreshments and a slide show,

and 12 of them were inducted into the center’s Hall of Fame.

During the event, the center’s director, Aviva Goelman, told the crowd

that the center’s fund-raising efforts, chaired by Automobile Club of

Southern California President and CEO Thomas V. McKernan, Jr., have

netted $65,000 since the campaign began last November.

Goelman hopes to get to the $100,000 mark before the campaign ends.

To help out in any way, contact the center at 949-645-2356.

* TONY DODERO is the editor. His column appears on Mondays. If you

have story ideas or concerns about news coverage, please send messages

either via e-mail to o7 tony.dodero@latimes.comf7 or by phone at

949-574-4258.